“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
John 3:3 NIV
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 NIV
“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
John 3:31-36 NIV
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
John 4:23-24 NIV
When we become believers in Christ, God removes some of our struggles on the spot and some linger. A major one for me which happened gradually was being in Catholicism. A false system of beliefs is so deeply rooted that it is passed from generation to generation as evidenced in Jeremiah 44,
“Why arouse my anger with what your hands have made, burning incense to other gods in Egypt, where you have come to live? You will destroy yourselves and make yourselves a curse and an object of reproach among all the nations on earth. 9 Have you forgotten the wickedness committed by your ancestors and by the kings and queens of Judah and the wickedness committed by you and your wives in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? 10 To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed my law and the decrees I set before you and your ancestors.”
Jeremiah 44:8-10 NIV
Atheists, agnostics and even some professing believers have a hard time grappling with the fact that God allows “the innocent” to be involved in massacres and such, but this touches on the doctrine of His sovereignty (Isaiah 46:8-10). False teaching (which leads to wickedness) spreads like gangrene to your family, down to your sphere of influence (2 Timothy 2:17). He knows the very detail on whether the innocent child will grow up to be a Haman and those who will not repent and carry on the abominable practices.
Speaking of other struggles that linger, none of our flesh becomes sinless at the moment of salvation. He does not remove all of them instantaneously since it would work against us. They become a gauge of our progress. It paints a picture of whether we are truly allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. Progress can be painfully slow, but progress is progress. Since we are living in such perilous times, we do not have time to play around.
“Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.”
Daniel 12:10 NIV
Related reads: Burn | U-Turn | Living Out Your Convictions
“Speaking of other struggles that linger, none of our flesh becomes sinless at the moment of salvation. He does not remove all of them instantaneously since it would work against us. They become a gauge of our progress. It paints a picture of whether we are truly allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. Progress can be painfully slow, but progress is progress.”
That was a really good insight. The flesh does indeed reveal one’s progress like you said.
To Him be the glory.